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OK so like some others i have the strange problem that the charging cable is "falling" from the connector on my note 2.
i have found a solution with replacement cable from HAMA and it was great cause the connector is about 1 mm longer and keep "stuck" inside the not 2
the problem is that i have found out the charging is slow...
i thought its my imagination but i take the charger on my bag to work and yesterday night went to sleep with about 12% battery and connecting to the charger i was sure that in the morning the battery will be full....
i woke up 3.5 hours later to work and ... ooops only 74% battery...
i decided that it has to be the cable so i took with me the original cable and here i am at work connecting the charger and in about few minutes i got 80% battery.
so i guess we have to find a thick cable cause "having" 2A charging is depend also on the cable thickness ...
I had similar problems here : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2015459
It looks like all cables are not created equal.
I doubt it was the gauge. It probably was that the pins weren't fully contacting because they weren't aligned right or something. It doesn't take much wire to deliver 10 watts.
I don't have problems with charging, but the cable fit is very loose and can be very easily disconnected. I thought it's just me.
I too have noticed shower charge rate on other chargers/cables. I used one of my old palm pre (yes remember those) chargers and cable to charge my note2 one day and it took forever. Not sure what the reading is buti believe it was a 1.5a charger witha thinner wire.
I am using the stock Samsung note 2 charger/cable my phone came with and it is much faster. On the cable it says 23AWGx2. Not sure what the x2 is but i would look for the same 23 AWG.
I also have an I go charger with the interchangeable tips. I believe it is a 2a charger. Not sure about the wire gauge but it is thicker. It also charges fast like the stock one.
I'm guessing the smaller gauge wire loses some charge through the extra heat it is generating to push the2a required. I did notice on the palm pre charger that it was hot.
I have noticed on all my chargers besides the stock one I have to push much harder to plug it in. I hope its not damaging the connector on the phone.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app
flaring afro said:
I doubt it was the gauge. It probably was that the pins weren't fully contacting because they weren't aligned right or something. It doesn't take much wire to deliver 10 watts.
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The important thing is amperes, not watts. And 2A is not that small.
I tried using the following site to calculate the voltage drop : h ttp://genuinedealz.com/voltage-drop.html. And with 4ft of 28AWG cable at 2A, the voltage drop is 1V. And 5V-1V=4V is not enough to completely charge li-ion batteries. Switch to 20AWG and the voltage drop becomes a more reasonable 0.16V.
Also, voltage drop is proportional to length, so longer cables must be thicker to compensate.
Do you guys think they'll make a Qi charging adapter? The contacts would connect to the pins on the underside of the witch and the charging coils could just be covered by a black sticker. It could be like the S4 inserts for Qi charging. Wouldn't add bulk either. What do you guys think?
Daistaar said:
Do you guys think they'll make a Qi charging adapter? The contacts would connect to the pins on the underside of the witch and the charging coils could just be covered by a black sticker. It could be like the S4 inserts for Qi charging. Wouldn't add bulk either. What do you guys think?
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I'm surprised a Chinese company hasn't done this yet. Qi receivers are easily thin enough and making a charging dock like a normal watch base with a Qi coil on top would be simple enough I think. There must be a reason this hasn't happened. I'd buy it for sure. I can't stand the stock charging cradle and I'm not spending $35 for a spare one either. That's highway robbery. I'd like to see this happen.
The hardware needs to support it, but I am willing to modify hardware given to tools and instructions.
I'd buy one for sure. I'm an avid QI user with a charger bedside, couchside, in home office, work office, and the QI car charger for my Note 3.
Please make this!
So, this is my review of the Tronsmart TS-CC4PC Car Charger. Disclosure being, Tronsmart was looking for reviewers for their product, and driving a tractor trailer, I am in a unique position to give products a bit of a more thorough testing than most people can, due to the large amount of miles I drive every week. Tronsmart agreed and sent me a unit directly at no cost to me. For reference, the cost currently on amazon is 19.99$ fulfilled by amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZF7XLJU?keywords=tronsmart&qid=1446321299&ref_=sr_1_2&sr=8-2
Lets start off with what it comes with, it does come in a nice box, you get a small Volt IQ booklet, a user manual, and a USB cable. The USB cable is a nice touch, as one can never have to many USB cables. The Volt IQ booklet just states that Volt IQ selects the fastest charging speed for the device you plug in. And the manual is, well, it's a manual, it's there if you wish to take a peek at it. I personally did not look at the manual for a car charger!
Size wise, it's about the length of my finger, the knife in the picture is just a 3inch blade, 5inch closed utility knife that I use. The charger itself is right around 3.5inches x 2inches. Not the smallest, as it is a 4 port after all. But it fits nicely into my personal vehicle, and my tractor.
Probably one of the reason you'll buy this charger is for the Quick Charge 2.0. The quick charge port is denoted by blue in the ports, similar to how USB 3.0 is coming off the motherboard of your pc. If you own a Note 5 like myself, your phone can take advantage of it. And yes, it is fast. Basically a full charge in a bit over an hour. I generally leave my phone plugged in almost 24/5 while I am in my truck, for the past couple of weeks, I have not been doing that, I've been letting it sit unplugged, and then plugging it in as it drains to various levels to test the capability of the fast charging. You can literally watch the % go up when charging if you feel the need, but either way it's fast......Please remember as well, from my knowledge some USB cables won't use the quick charge, the tronsmart cable that comes with it does, and the 2 other cables I had that I tested it did. But some older/cheaper cables may not use the fast charging.
Now, this is the 4 port version. I actually specifically requested this model, as driving a truck I have tons of electronics plugged in at various times throughout the day/night. My charger is also plugged in permanently in my truck, with cords being swapped out quite often throughout the day as I go in/out, and into my sleeper and back to my cab. So far it's handled everything I've thrown at it, I did test it with 4 products plugged in, and it worked great, and charged fine although my testing with this was limited, as generally I have 3 plugged in(bluetooth headset, note 5, nexus 9), and with those being plugged in multiple times a day, it still, works perfectly as expected. I've often had problems with other car chargers due to low power output when it comes to my nexus 9 tablet, and my note 5, I often times load up the hotspot on my note 5 and stream netflix on my nexus 9, while browsing on my note, and this charger had no problems keeping both charged, and I cannot tell you how irritating it was to be watching netflix, and happen to notice the battery on my nexus 9 would be down to 10% just from streaming. This was one of my main concerns with the charger and figured if it failed, I wouldn't even be able to recommend this charger, luckily it handled it without issue, and even continued to charge my nexus 9/note 5 while streaming, which the cheap chargers will not do with a nexus 9 with it's large screen.
Another problem I have with car chargers in a truck, is build quality. A serious issue is with them popping loose out of my cigarette outlets due to poor roads. The Tronsmart actually is built quite well. It's not heavy by any means, although a bit heavier than the cheap chargers you'll get from gas stations or truck stops, it feels solid in your hands. The side metal pieces actually have a bit of resistance when pushed in, which helps keep it planted in the outlet. Generally I've noticed on the cheaper chargers they are just simply a piece of metal, this charger actually has almost a 'springy' feel to it, they also give a satisfying 'click' when you push them in with your finger and release . I don't expect any build quality issues anytime soon with this charger.
I was also concerned about heat issues with having a 4 port, as often times sitting in my truck, in the sun, will be quite hard on the electronics. I didn't notice any excess heat with this charger at all, and while it's certainly almost winter, so the temps in the 90+ are gone, with the sun beating down on the truck, it gets warm fast in there.
And thank you Tronsmart for not including an LED light on this unit. I cannot stress this enough, it's so easy to simply plug your phone, or something into a car charger to verify it's working, I don't need a bright led light to shine into my eyes to tell me it's on, I can plug it in and test it in 3 seconds myself. Such a little thing, but it's welcome in my eyes.
The one issue I did have, was with the provided USB cable. It is a quick charge cable, but it's still a little on the cheap side. The USB cable connector for my note 5 was starting to bend occasionally, my guess is this is due to the abuse, and fairly constant unplugging/replugging into my phone, getting smacked accidently as I move around in my truck, etc. I've simply bent the connector back and haven't had any issues, that said, should it bend to far, longevity of the cord that comes with the charger may be an issue depending on how much abuse you put it through, which for me, is far more than the average person. And of course, the USB cable is just a nice addition to your purchase, most of us have plenty of these lying around already, and it's nice of Tronsmart to add another to my collection, even if it's not the highest quality.
For reference the vehicle in the picture it's installed in is a 2014 Freightliner Cascadia if anyone is wondering why there is so much room, and it looks far different from any other vehicles dash setup, it is a 20k lbs tractor
At the end of the day, for 20$ currently on amazon, I find it hard to think you could ask for much more out of this charger, the fast charge works, the other ports work well, the power output is high enough to keep whatever you need charged, even while in use. It holds in your outlet well, and it doesn't have any annoying LED light lighting up your vehicle in the middle of the night. I actually hope to grab myself a 2nd, or even a 3rd to place into my sleeper of my truck instead of dealing with the cheap one I currently have back there and for my personal vehicle. I can't say I've ever owned a non-cheap one before this, but let me tell you, I should have bought one years ago instead of wasting my time with the cheap walmart/gas station ones.......And if there are any questions, feel free to ask as I'll subscribe to the thread.
TL;DR If you need a car charger with 4 ports and a fast charge port, this charger works well, and I really don't see how you could be disappointed with your purchase of this charger.
Nice review. Thanks.
ucsdsig13 said:
Nice review. Thanks.
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You're welcome!
Good job. Nice review. the car charger looks very nice
I bought one of these but it does not stay tight in my either of my 12V sockets in my car and keeps coming out a little bit and stops charging. I did email Tronsmart and they are sending me a replacement. Maybe the one I got was defective. It does charge fast when it stays in.
Not sure if it will be any good but I have ordered on to see
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Type-C-...986680?hash=item4d44193db8:g:g2UAAOSwt7pXNIHp
There only seems to be one type ATM
and it supposedly charges at DC 5V/1000mA (depending obviously on the transmitting charger)
It's available from Amazon as well but they all link back to China
Early days, here's hoping I don't blow up my 5X
Yes it blocks the USB port but I always SMB stuff from my nas box so that's not a problem.
You're lucky if you ever get even 500mA out of it. Every Chinese Qi pad vendor overstates the power on their product. Still, nice to have the option. Let us know how it goes
Sent from my Nexus 5X using XDA-Developers mobile app
Iiinteresting, ordered one of those through Amazon. Even if it's only 500mA it'll be nice to have, I just hope it doesn't mess with NFC stuff. Looks like it shouldn't given that the antenna for that is near the camera according to the manual.
colorado_al said:
You're lucky if you ever get even 500mA out of it. Every Chinese Qi pad vendor overstates the power on their product. Still, nice to have the option. Let us know how it goes
Sent from my Nexus 5X using XDA-Developers mobile app
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The receiver coil looks bigger than the ones I've seen before so maybe 1 amp is a possibility, i'll let report when it eventually gets here.
Quick review
Got the pad now and here is my initial review
Clearly the photo on the advert is a bit of a lie as the coil is about half the size as you can see in the photo below.
The pad is situated to far too the top on the Nexus 5X and sticks out where the fingerprint reader is. This can be easily fixed by cutting a bit off the top, as the coil does not come right to the edge this can be done without ruining the receiver.
THe bit that plugs into the USB socket sticks out which is a bit annoying but not the end of the world.
On my Zens dual Qi charger it took just less than 4 hours to charge from 36% to full so it's not super fast but not that bad over night. The phone indicated slow charging and was AC charging by the battery usage page.
It seems to have no problem staying connected as long as you are aware where the coil is on the pad (towards the top) and has no problem charging through my case
It does not appear to interfere with the radio antenna at all so thats ok.
Also it's super slim so should not interfere with most cases
So in conclusion its fine for me as I rarely need to charge the phone except for overnight, and I have not been using the faster charger anyway.
In case anyone is wondering the case is a Nillkin Matte Super Shield Hard Shell Case which is super nice though the black was a mistake
bexwhitt said:
Got the pad now and here is my initial review
<snipped huge quote>
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Nice, thanks for the update. I'm still waiting on mine, it'll be nice to have wireless charging again.
edit: I did get mine today... it's a bit flaky at best, currently i'm blaming the qi charger, i've got a different one on the way.
Good to know it fits under a Nillkin case, as that's what I have for my Nexus 6P. I ordered a receiver on the 25th, hope I get it soon.
Fnord12 said:
edit: I did get mine today... it's a bit flaky at best, currently i'm blaming the qi charger, i've got a different one on the way.
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The charging on mine seems rock solid but the zens dual does have a pretty big target area to put the coil in.
See the screenshot below the charge looks pretty rock solid
bexwhitt said:
The charging on mine seems rock solid but the zens dual does have a pretty big target area to put the coil in.
See the screenshot below the charge looks pretty rock solid
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While fiddling with it the qi pad I have it only really works when the thing is outside my case in one exact spot. So... given that it worked fine for someone else I went hunting on Amazon and found a better looking unit.
We'll see Saturday when it gets here if I chose the right one.
Woot, got a full charge overnight with the new qi pad so that old pad is basically crap.
How thick is the pad? I'm wondering if it would be possible to remove as many unnecessary part from it and try to fit it under the back cover of the phone. And also solder it directly to the charging board so that the USB would be still usable
AABatteries said:
How thick is the pad? I'm wondering if it would be possible to remove as many unnecessary part from it and try to fit it under the back cover of the phone. And also solder it directly to the charging board so that the USB would be still usable
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it's not very thick at all and any generic Qi receiver would probably do as a few people already have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WimH8g-H2lE
There is padding over the battery on the back case you can remove if it's too thick
Has anyone else been having problems with theirs?
For a couple days now it's charged to full and then the next morning it'll be less than 100%. Yesterday it was at 89%, today it was at 93%. I did verify it was at 100% yesterday before I went to bed.
Fnord12 said:
Has anyone else been having problems with theirs?
For a couple days now it's charged to full and then the next morning it'll be less than 100%. Yesterday it was at 89%, today it was at 93%. I did verify it was at 100% yesterday before I went to bed.
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I don't have one of these, but I might have a possible explanation. I used to use a 0.7 amp or 1.0 amp charger for charging the 5X overnight. Seemed to work at first, but then it started showing less than 100% in the morning. What seemed to happen from the battery graph is it would charge to full, then start draining (slowly) and not top up again. So I think the low power just didn't trigger it to start charging again once the battery drained a little.
I put it on a 2 amp charger and it now is 100% in the morning. If your phone acts like mine, it might be due to the lower power from wireless charging.
Voicebox said:
I don't have one of these, but I might have a possible explanation. I used to use a 0.7 amp or 1.0 amp charger for charging the 5X overnight. Seemed to work at first, but then it started showing less than 100% in the morning. What seemed to happen from the battery graph is it would charge to full, then start draining (slowly) and not top up again. So I think the low power just didn't trigger it to start charging again once the battery drained a little.
I put it on a 2 amp charger and it now is 100% in the morning. If your phone acts like mine, it might be due to the lower power from wireless charging.
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Yeah.. I was kinda thinking that a little, good to see it confirmed. Not sure how much the pad was getting but the sending unit was only drawing ~1A so that's the issue there...
Oh well, it was a nice experiment, would have been better had it actually worked though. Back to the included charger it is then.
Just a note from years of experience with these Qi chargers:
There's some inherent loss in efficiency. Essentially, your wall charger is working to spin current around in a coil, which then by magnetic induction causes current to spin around another coil (in your phone), that then feeds into the battery. It's indirect, there's no contact, and some phone materials can even impede it (just one reason these stupid metal wannabe-iphones luddites keep demanding are a terrible idea ).
Bottom line is - you need a charger that's over an amp, closer to 2a if possible, to spin some of these Qi chargers up enough that it makes a large enough field to get to the Qi coil in your phone and charge it efficiently. Ones that come with tablets seem to work fine - I have my Nexus 7 charger on my office Qi (which is angled and serves dual duty of holding my phone for easy reading and viewing).
I'm actually more interested personally in an internal Qi option - solder it in, invisible.
True story - I did that with my S3 before I got an S5, and it worked great. Didn't have to bother when I got an S5, since they sold an optional Qi battery door for the S5. ...don't get me started on my hatred of the design philosophy that excludes removable battery doors.
Anyway - I just picked up a 5x, reluctantly ditching many of the features I had on my S5, to try Google Fi service out.
Wireless charging is something that I'm very interested in - I have wireless chargers literally installed (meaning: hidden, routed wires) in my car, office, and house, specifically to avoid that dorm-room spaghetti-everywhere aesthetic. "Wireless... it's not just for convenience anymore."
Hopefully there's a thread with step by step instructions on a good Qi pad and identified soldering points to install internally?
geolemon said:
Just a note from years of experience with these Qi chargers:
There's some inherent loss in efficiency. Essentially, your wall charger is working to spin current around in a coil, which then by magnetic induction causes current to spin around another coil (in your phone), that then feeds into the battery. It's indirect, there's no contact, and some phone materials can even impede it (just one reason these stupid metal wannabe-iphones luddites keep demanding are a terrible idea ).
Bottom line is - you need a charger that's over an amp, closer to 2a if possible, to spin some of these Qi chargers up enough that it makes a large enough field to get to the Qi coil in your phone and charge it efficiently. Ones that come with tablets seem to work fine - I have my Nexus 7 charger on my office Qi (which is angled and serves dual duty of holding my phone for easy reading and viewing).
I'm actually more interested personally in an internal Qi option - solder it in, invisible.
True story - I did that with my S3 before I got an S5, and it worked great. Didn't have to bother when I got an S5, since they sold an optional Qi battery door for the S5. ...don't get me started on my hatred of the design philosophy that excludes removable battery doors.
Anyway - I just picked up a 5x, reluctantly ditching many of the features I had on my S5, to try Google Fi service out.
Wireless charging is something that I'm very interested in - I have wireless chargers literally installed (meaning: hidden, routed wires) in my car, office, and house, specifically to avoid that dorm-room spaghetti-everywhere aesthetic. "Wireless... it's not just for convenience anymore."
Hopefully there's a thread with step by step instructions on a good Qi pad and identified soldering points to install internally?
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Such a thread exists. Someone also offers a service doing the soldering for you. I might be able to find it...
Here is the mod:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3231461
EDIT: why did you mod your S3 when you could have dropped this in?
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
That may exist today, but certainly didn't exist when the S3 was the current flagship phone.
Back in those years, the popular (and nearly 'only', here on XDA) modification was to buy the Palm Pre battery door and charger (non-Qi) and use those parts.
Since Palm had recently gone bust, $20 would get you all the parts you need - including Palm's proprietary charger base, a receiver sticker, even a charger.
And honestly, I have to say the Qi charger gets much hotter than the Palm system, so there might be an argument there for it being technically 'better than' the Qi systems. Qi is simply the standard today.
So now with the news that there are some accessories(chargers and cables) that are not compliant with the USB type C specifications, I wonder if these wireless pads are compliant with the specification?
https://imgur.com/a/hhlTgw8
I'm super happy with the results
I bought a more expensive wireless USB type C charger that I thought would charge faster, since it was advertised as a 2000 mah (On amazon, it was gold), but once you open it up it seems to be the same cheap 1000 mah ones.
I did this because my phone is getting old, and I cracked the back glass, and I figured, while I'm inside... I might as well do it.
I had a blast, and I'm super happy with the results, it charges slow, but it works! and I can keep using my wired charger!
Syndor said:
https://imgur.com/a/hhlTgw8
I'm super happy with the results
I bought a more expensive wireless USB type C charger that I thought would charge faster, since it was advertised as a 2000 mah (On amazon, it was gold), but once you open it up it seems to be the same cheap 1000 mah ones.
I did this because my phone is getting old, and I cracked the back glass, and I figured, while I'm inside... I might as well do it.
I had a blast, and I'm super happy with the results, it charges slow, but it works! and I can keep using my wired charger!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a pretty cool project! Care to elaborate on the steps and materials needed?
One pointer from my end: do not leave this charging overnight or when you're away from the device! Though customizations like this are fun and interesting, they are also a common source of house fires. Risks are probably low here as it involves slow charging but you really don't want to risk it.
Timmmmaaahh said:
That's a pretty cool project! Care to elaborate on the steps and materials needed?
One pointer from my end: do not leave this charging overnight or when you're away from the device! Though customizations like this are fun and interesting, they are also a common source of house fires. Risks are probably low here as it involves slow charging but you really don't want to risk it.
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I'm making the small guide and I'll post it later
The bad thing is I couldn't really take many pictures, since the phone is what I used to do that, so I'll be using some footage from ifixit teardown video.
So this all began when my phones back crystal panel broke on a fall.
I decided I had to replace it, so I ordered a new Transparent one, since like Jerryrigeverything I love to be able to see the electronics.
While I was at it I figured, why not add wireless charging to the phone? It should be possible, so I looked around for a guide, and I found this one:
https://www.instructables.com/Add-Wireless-Charging-to-Any-Phone-Using-the-LG-V2/
That was way sloppier than what I wanted, but it was a good read, and you can read about what he did.
You will need, a multimeter to check for continuity
A soldering iron, one that can regulate heat so you don’t damage anything, and with the smallest tip you can find
A donor charging receiver
Time and patience.
After that
With help from ifixit (link: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/OnePlus+6T+Teardown/115698 )
I opened up the phone, and since ifixit said there was no fingerprint connector you can just go at it, heat, and separate.
Once inside, disconnect the battery first.
The OnePlus 6T has a different design, there’s no pcb for the usb c on the speaker area, it has a connector that goes up to the main pcb, that snaps right next to the battery, since they had to make room for the optic fingerprint scanner.
So I removed the battery, so I could strip the layer of safety glue and make a little more room by peeling away a couple of layers, otherwise this wouldn’t close.
I started probing around with my multimeter for continuity, to do this, I connected the usb type c wireless charge pad (this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087TW7MGK/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=AQB8EOE9WF3ZF&psc=1 ) after I stripped the protecting plastic cover (to make it even thinner, and to see the insides).
https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5118635&d=1603036807
So you connect it and probe the +Vbus and the Ground on that pad, at first I was a bit baffled, since it had pins on both sides, why if it isn’t carrying data, then I realized how stupid I was being, of course, it’s because it’s usb type c, you can plug it in both ways, and it needs to have the correct pins either way.
So I managed to probe around for continuity, and found out these are the correct spots.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5118637&d=1603036807
I had to remove some of the plastic on the NFC cover to allow the wires to pass, you can see on the final image the route the wires had to take.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5118639&d=1603036807
As you can see, I also jumped both grounds since it wouldn’t work if I didn’t.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5118633&d=1603036807
The first one is beefier, but it wouldn’t fit since everything on the PCB was bigger, the thing is, they charged at the same rate when tested with a usb type c power meter around 680-700 mah of charging power with a 10 watt wireless charger.
I ended up using this other one which was cheaper, and also smaller, not as sexy, but that’s the price to pay.
https://www.amazon.com/Version-Wire...48&sprefix=type+c+wireless+cha,aps,185&sr=8-3
so all that was left to do, was place a nice thin sticker on my battery (I miss the red battery days) to make it look a little bit better, and close it up with the transparent back cover (also from amazon).
As a side note, I placed a USB C to C power meter, and these little things do seem to have sensors for when the battery is full, so they don’t overcharge or overheat.
So I left it overnight with a 65 watt PD USB C to C charger, and a wall plug power meter, and once it’s soldered in, it also seems to drop down the charging, and it also stops giving out heat when it’s fully charged, so there might be something on the small PCB for charge detection, or maybe it’s the phones own full charge detection and it stops asking for power, since this would be the equivalent of being connected with a cable.
Still, everyone should operate at their own safety and I’m not responsible if you set your house on fire, but I will continue leaving it overnight.
It charges slowly, but I can also plug in my dash charger, and again, it doesn’t overheat, the PCB on the wireless coil receiver seems to be doing something, maybe.